We have been battling the ferocious field mouse for the past few days. The body count is nearing 30. I think the technical term for this is “infestation”.

Yuck.

Huzzah!

What do we win?  Oh, just 4-5 days of high fever, vomiting, sleepless nights, probable infection of parents, ensuing aches, pains, and bitchiness!  And just in time for Thanksgiving.  Perfect.

The toasted pumpkin seeds were a hit.

About the guests: For three months this summer I lived away from my family in Parker, CO and stayed in the home of Kathy Jackson, a lady I found on www.craigslist.org. She was looking for a short-term roommate, and I needed a fully furnished place to stay for a short term. We became friends, and I invited Kathy and her sister over for dinner last night.

About the food: I started with fresh baked ciabatta, sliced thin and layered with fresh basil, smoked mozzarella, fresh tomato, olive oil, and aceto balsamico. The main course was grilled pork tenderoin (with a garlic/orange wet rub), oven roasted green beans (with walnuts, red onions, and basalmic vinegar), wild rice with mushroom risotto, and mushrooms sauteed with thyme, shallots, and marsala.

We washed this down with a few bottles of Argentinian Malbec. If you haven’t tried Argentinian malbecs you are missing out.

The best part? Leftovers.

Saturday’s high in Castle Rock was close to 75 F. We had a beautiful, sunny, breezy day.

This picture was taken this morning, Sunday the 21st. Almost six inches of pure white snow fell over night and early this morning. Just a prelude to the crazy weather we have been hearing that Colorado endures.

One of the great things about living at an elevation of just over 6000 feet is the abundance of sledding hills. We have a park a few blocks from our home with excellent sledding for young kids.

With highs of 65 F on both Wednesday and Thursday, this snow will not last long.

Where to start……

Prior to the BWCA trip this spring I found out I was a serious candidate to take over the Denver Operations management position for my company. After 2 agonizing weeks of interviews and waiting I was chosen to take the job. Thus ensued the whirlwind that has been my life for the last 4 months.

In mid-July I moved to Denver without my family to take over Colorado operations. I found a place to stay on Craigslist, and rented a fully furnished room from a very cool lady named Kathy. Her townhouse was only 6 miles from my office, tantalizing after driving 90 miles each way for the last 4 + years. I grinned from ear to ear for the first 3 weeks of my commute. I was able to go “home” for lunch, which was nice.

I spent a total of 77 days away from my family.

That time was not spent idly(for the most part). I had to find a house that would suit Jessica and the boys. We had to decide on a town, then an area in that town, and finally a house itself. In the end Castle Rock, a mid-sized town 25 miles south of Denver was the choice. I found a place that is walking distance from the Downtown area restaurants, coffee shops, and stores.

Jess and the boys and I moved in on October 5th and are still unpacking. So far, so good. Gus starts school next week and Griffen and Jess will be looking for pre-schools soon.

I’ll post more about the move in the coming days, and hope to keep this blog a little more up to date than before. I still have to finish the BWCA trip report!

Nice.

After that the packing progressed nicely and we were all set before midnight. Kiecker was set to arrive at 1 a.m., and we would finish packing the food that he was supplying at that time. Booze was transferred into platypus containers, and the necessity of various items were debated over beers.

After Kiecker arrived and the food was all packed, Derek and Greg thought it made the most sense to leave right then for Ely. We were all in agreement, so I kissed my confused, sleepy wife and boarded the Blazer. Derek was keyed up after brewing and drinking a pot of strong coffee and took the first shift.

The drive to Ely was uneventful, other than the expected slap-happiness. Kiecker and I argued numerous points, roundly criticized Penthouse for turning into Maxim with tits, and refreshed ourselves with truck-stop fare. Lyga took over driving once we left the interstate, and I rode shotgun as the sun slowly rose in the east. The temperature was in the low 50′s, but would climb into the 80′s later in the day.

We picked up our permits at Piragis Outfitter’s around 7:00 a.m. So far the decision to leave early is looking like a stroke of genius. Minnows were purchased, batteries were not purchased even though they should have been, and a nice place to eat breakfast was suggested by the owner of the bait shop. I should have written down the names of these places, but alas, I did not.

After waxing nostalgic numerous times about an evening I spent drinking in the Ely town park just over a decade ago, our tired but excited crew left Ely around 9:30 and headed toward the Echo Trail and Mudro Lake……….

My good friend, and bro-in-law, was in town for 4 days at the end of April. We had grand plans for the long weekend, and followed through on most of them. This will be the tale of the tail of that weekend, Monday.

“Look at the size of those bratwursts!”, said Derek. That was all it took to seal the deal for me. My mind started to inventory the refrigerator for condiments: tsatziki, horseradish mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, onions, hummus. I asked for 6, and the total weight was 2.5 lbs. Oh. My. God.

This day had started out slowly. We had plans to paddle the Kettle River in Eastern Minnesota. The Kettle has a few serious whitewater stretches, and we were going to hit the baddest stretch. Derek was going to meet Jake and I halfway, and we were going to jam on the water, eat lunch, and drink a few beers.

Instead, we decided to stay at my house, drink Spotted Cow, eat grilled Lamb Souvlaki with homemade pita, and kayak the lake across the road from my house. I think we made the right decision.

Back to the bratwurst. I don’t own a frisbee, so we called around to find one. 15 minutes away, two stores carried frisbees, so we hit the road in Jake’s rental. After picking out a 180 gram frisbee, I offered to buy the boys a bloody mary. Good idea. The cute barista working that day at the Pour House made a mean Bloody, with a beer chaser. Mmm. It was only the second Bloody Mary I have ever ordered. In my life. Total. After the BM, Jake decided to pick up steaks for dinner with his dad later in the evening, and that is when Derek spotted the brats. Which we ate. With Tzatziki. Yum.

This definition fits me like a finely tailored suit. I commute. I commute a great distance daily, about 170 miles round-trip. That is roughly 3 hours per day in my truck for those of you keeping score at home. This commute wears heavily on me from time to time, and I try very hard not to crank the wheel hard to the left and smash my way into oncoming traffic.

So, how do I keep my sanity, you ask? I spend the night at a friend’s(who lives close to where I work) house from time to time. The system is simple and works like this: I cook for them, they let me sleep in a bed, and no one is killed in a fiery head-on collision. I think the system is perfect. Everyone wins, as long as I don’t have too many Sierra Nevada Pale Ale’s while I’m cooking and almost forget to check the rice and the veggies steam a little too long and well, you get the point.

On to the shrimp.

I stayed at Derek and Theresa’s last night. What a great couple they are! We had a blast eating, drinking, and talking. Well, Derek and I drank anyway. Theresa is 6 months preggers, and looks great. I don’t have the urge to have any more children, but I felt a pang when I saw her last night. I liked having a pregnant wife. That must be a primal male response or something. But I digress since I’m not really getting on with the shrimp.

I picked up a couple of pounds of 21 ct. shrimp at Captain’s Select Seafood in Minneapolis. Good prices, excellent seafood. All of the good seafood joints in town buy wholesale from this guy, and he also sells retail to walk in customers. Derek, his son Maelin, and I journeyed to Byerley’s to pick up the rest of the dinner supplies and we headed to the house. Here is the recipe for Aromatic Shrimp Stir-fry.

Peel the shrimp, around 1 lb or so. Put shells in a small sauce pan with 3/4 cups of water and bring to a simmer. In a medium bowl combine cleaned shrimp, 1 TBSP. dry sherry, and a TBSP or so of soy sauce, letting the shrimp marinate for about 10 mins. Mince about 1/2 inch of fresh ginger, 2 garlic cloves, and 3 green onions. Set aside about 2 TBSP’s of the green onion stems. Put the garlic, ginger, and remaining onions in a small bowl and combine, set aside the bowl. After the shells have simmered for a while, strain the water(now a simple shrimp broth) into a small bowl. You should end up with around 1/2 cup of broth. Add 2 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil, a three finger pinch of sugar, and 1 tsp of corn starch. Mix well and set aside.

O.K., now everything goes pretty quick from this point on. Heat a couple of TBSP of oil (vegetable, peanut, sesame, whatever) in a large non-stick skillet, high heat. Add the shrimp and fry for 1 minute. Turn shrimp, and push to sides making a hole in the middle of the skillet. Add a little oil to the opening and drop in the ginger/garlic/onion mix. Press the mix into the oil with a wooden spoon and fry for 1 minute. Shake the pan mixing the shrimp with the mix. Quickly stir the broth and add to the skillet, cooking until the broth thickens. This should all take less than 3 minutes.

Spoon the shrimp onto a bed of jasmine rice and enjoy!! Thanks again, Derek and Theresa!